Spy-x-War Showdown
Chapter 98 - 97 This is the Foundation

Chapter 98: Chapter 97 This is the Foundation

"Ah! An hour?"

Yang Yi exclaimed in surprise.

Zhang Yong, impatient, said, "Alright, stop making a big deal out of it. I can casually do it for seven or eight hours. You’re scared of just one hour? And you’re still practicing boxing? All you can do is fancy but ineffective boxing moves. Do you want to learn that?"

"I’ll train. I just need to start by holding a plank for an hour, right? No problem, let’s get started. Uh, how do I practice?"

Zhang Yong spoke leisurely, "Do you know what bodyweight exercise is?"

"I know, but Ah Jiang said it’s very technical. Without guidance, blind practice might hurt oneself. That’s why I’ve never dared to practice on my own."

Zhang Yong nodded and said with a smile, "That’s right. Blind practice can indeed harm your body, especially if you injure your joints, which is even more troublesome. Here in prison, we don’t have fitness equipment, so bodyweight exercise is the only viable fitness method for prisoners. But bodyweight training is also a great way to exercise. Plus, you’re in prison with plenty of time to train every day, so bodyweight fitness is your only choice."

"Hmm."

"Bodyweight exercises aren’t just for you to develop good-looking muscles but to gain enough strength. Of course, fitness alone isn’t enough; you’re training for a good body to learn and apply martial arts better."

Yang Yi was somewhat puzzled and said softly, "Is just fitness sufficient?"

Zhang Yong shook his head with a smile, "No, it’s far from enough. Huaxia’s traditional martial arts have their own set of body conditioning methods. Some styles of boxing have high physical requirements. Bodyweight training is part of enhancing your physical condition, but you also have to add the training methods of Huaxia martial arts, which are harder and must be done with my help, like stretching and doing the splits, for example."

Yang Yi suddenly felt a shiver and then cautiously asked, "The splits?"

"Yes. Before you start your strength training, I’ll help you stretch your muscles."

"Does it hurt?"

"It doesn’t hurt if you do it gradually. At most, it might hurt a little bit."

Yang Yi took a deep breath and said, "Do we start now?"

"We start now. Come, sit on the ground and spread your legs as far apart as possible."

Yang Yi sat on the ground, still a bit uneasy, which caused his muscles to tense up, while Zhang Yong sat opposite him, bracing his legs and grabbing his hands.

"Don’t rush at the beginning. Take it slowly, slowly, wider, wider."

Yang Yi had already stretched his legs to the limit when Zhang Yong pressed his legs with his feet until Yang Yi, in pain, said, "Can’t do it anymore, this is my limit!"

Zhang Yong put a little more pressure on his feet until Yang Yi started sweating from pain and then stopped, smiling, "Okay, that’s enough. We’ll increase it a bit every day, gradually."

Yang Yi exhaled, able to bear the pain for now, and hearing there’d be no further increase allowed him to relax quite a bit.

After maintaining the same position for five minutes, Zhang Yong said, "That’s enough for today. I’ll remove my feet now, and you slowly bring your legs back."

Hearing the end was near, Yang Yi breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay."

Yang Yi completely relaxed and then, just as he was completely relaxed, Zhang Yong suddenly pushed hard against his legs.

He pushed forcefuliy with his feet.

"Oww!"

Yang Yi let out a sky-shattering scream and then collapsed onto the ground.

Although he hadn’t completed a full split, he was just a hair’s breadth away.

Zhang Yong released his hands, stood up, and casually patted off his own hands, chuckling, "That’s enough for today, just helping you stretch your muscles a bit."

Tears rolled down Yang Yi’s face, the pain was real, excruciatingly so.

"You... lied to... me..."

"Otherwise, you wouldn’t have relaxed. Alright, maintain that position for a while, then stand up."

Yang Yi said with a sobbing tone, "I can’t move at all, I feel like I’ve either fractured something or snapped my hips..."

"Don’t worry, it’s just painful, it won’t injure you, I know what I’m doing. The first time is always painfully, you’ll get used to it later."

Yang Yi slowly, ever so slowly, withdrew his legs. Lying on the ground, he said with a woebegone expression, "Don’t put it that way, it feels weird. How am I supposed to keep fit like this? Even if it’s just stretching, does it have to be so rushed?"

"Whether you stretch sooner or later, it has to be done. The sooner the better. Besides, you can’t train all day long. Take a rest, once the soreness subsides, you can start working out."

Having lain on the ground for a long time, Yang Yi finally asked, "Does this count as doing the splits?"

"The splits? A full split? Haha, don’t make me laugh. You are still far from there. But, you don’t have to worry, you only need to achieve a certain level of flexibility, there’s no need to force a full split."

After resting for quite some time, Yang Yi finally managed to get up. Seeing him stand, Zhang Yong smiled and said, "There are still two hours before lunch, we have plenty of time today. Rest for a bit, then I’ll teach you a few movements to start practicing."

Yang Yi let out a breath and replied, "I can hang in there, let’s just start now. Maybe begin with upper body strength?"

Zhang Yong shook his head and said, "Don’t rush, you won’t be able to keep up. You’ll see in a bit."

Yang Yi quickly understood why he couldn’t keep up because he was hungry.

The bit of food provided from breakfast simply wasn’t enough for Yang Yi’s high-intensity fitness regimen. He only managed to keep going for half an hour before his body turned as limp as noodles—not because his physical condition was poor, but because he had eaten too little.

"This morning was just for warming up. After we eat lunch, that’s when the real training starts in the afternoon."

Starving and dizzy, Yang Yi spoke feebly, "If we continue training like this, I don’t think I can last even past lunch. Brother Yong, is there any way to get more food, something filling?"

Zhang Yong shook his head and said, "This is a maximum-security area; there’s no convenience store here. Inmates have channels to smuggle in tobacco and food from outside, and that’s with the tacit consent of the guards, but it’s never too much. So, if you want to eat your fill, you’ve got to steal food from the other inmates, or figure out how to barter for it. I can’t help you with that, and I won’t."

Now Yang Yi understood why the Boxing King was stealing food from other inmates—he was working out every day, and unlike the more powerful gang members who hardly ever stole food, working out on an empty stomach truly wasn’t an option.

Yang Yi sighed deeply and said with resignation, "At this moment, even a bowl of instant noodles would do..."

"Instant noodles, huh? Actually, there are some, but very few. Hmm, two packs of cigarettes for one pack of noodles, do you want it? It should be possible to get."

Hope lit up in Yang Yi’s eyes, and he exclaimed excitedly, "Trade! Definitely trade. I don’t want to starve to death!"